When I was asked to present at our School Library System's February meeting about the many online resources of the New York Public Library that I use, I decided I would focused on more of the capabilities of Symbaloo to assist with my presentation and to share with parents at a Family Enrichment Night that we were having at our school that same week.

Up to that point, I'd just enjoyed the features of creating simple webmixes, groupings of tiles, with each tile linking to a web site/URL. I have separate themes for pages such as School (including my most frequently used sites during the school day), E-Books and Audio books, Book Blogs, Tech Tools, Professional Learning Network (PLN) links, and Home To Do.

I wanted to explore different features that would allow me to create a webmix that would contain a linked Google Doc, with simplified directions that I had created on getting a New York Public Library Card (any New York State resident can get one without actually going to New York City--although it is wonderful if you can visit in person!). It was important to have the webmix accessible from our school's library OPALS page under Web Links to share with my SLS colleagues as well as for my students and colleagues. I wanted to link to one of my own webmixes that I had created for easy E-Book and Audiobook web link access.

I also wanted to embed the webmix in this blog. So, I'm finishing up what I started back in January!

Looking back at our OPALS library page features after the fact, I realize that I could have embedded it as part of a separate tab titled New York Public Library Resources, and I have done so now!

On this Symbaloo webmix I included tutorials for Symbaloo itself on the bottom line of tiles. I provided them as a feature for anyone who was interested in getting started using it.

One difficulty I have when going to a seminar is remembering how to access the information provided after the conference has concluded and I want to revisit the information. With visual links in one place, Symbaloo webmixes can solve that problem in a customized format. You have the ability to share publicly or with a select group using Symbaloo.

The Good E-Reader blog link was included to remind me to mention one of the best ways I've found to keep up with the latest on e-Books and e-Reader news. Michael Kozlowski provides great information!

I started using out using a regular Symbaloo account before I realized that there was an educator's version. I created the NYPL Resources page in the EDU version. The main difference between the two types is preset educational webmixes in the educator's version, and it is supposed to be easier to share webmixes and less advertising. The Symbaloo Gallery has a search feature for all public Symbaloo webmixes.

The educational Symbaloo has just recently come out with a new platform called Symbaloo Lesson Plans for customizing student learning with digitized lessons that have feedback statistics for the teacher. There is a Symbaloo certification program available. Both are something I would like to explore further.

I am slowly building my technology skills set. It's necessary for me to keep a journal of all the things I learn along with the logins and passwords. I had hoped to concentrate on screencasting this summer, but that will be my next focus. One of the ways to capture people's attention are mini video clips of information, and that will assist in publicizing how to access databases and help people navigate new features with our eBook collection.

Our school library OPALS library automation page is what I prefer to use as our "web page." I have been exploring the widgets within it. Carrying forward our "Community of Readers" theme, I'm focusing on publicizing the Reader Review feature. When I'm out doing book talks that will start next week, I will promote the feature.

I loved the ideas of the QR codes helping promote library in the Excellence in Practice... video clip for the Raroa Intermediate School. I decided to create promotion posters that could help focus on library, including our 24/7 one passworddatabase access! I use the QR code generator.

The QR codes can lead them to the library resources.

I am working on the idea of posters for books with a QR code that leads to a book trailer.

Steller appealed to me when many of the other tools did not. It is a very easy to use iPhone app and the books are accessible on the Steller website. I could create a photo book right on my iPhone very easily with a variety of layouts, fonts and book styles. At this time, I not really interested in any of the animated tools. Maybe later on.

One drawback is that the Steller app is only available as an iPhone app.* I was hoping to use it with our school iPads as an app. There is a Photo Editorfor Steller available for a small fee ($1.99 at the time of this blog entry) for iPad. It does have some neat effects available. Below on the left is one of my own photos and a sampling of what the photo editor can do. Another tool might be easier if it's available for both iPhone and iPad.

I am working with middle school students and high school students and wanted something that they could use to tell a story with photos they take and/or scanned pictures from home for an autobiographical piece. This will be a good tool for that type of storytelling. Many students have iPhones, so this could be a great presentation tool for them.

*Update (11/25/15): I did finally figure out that it was under the "iPhone Only" in the App Store when I had a little time to get back to this.

Using the Google Drive document sharing feature for our grant team’s “A Community of Readers” project has helped me see the value of that feature. I created a To Do List Calendar with input from two colleagues at our meeting in July that I shared through my Google Docs account. We decided we could use this to refer to, tweak and keep each other motivated throughout this school year.

I am using Google Docs with students this year in my 6th grade Computer Apps class. The share feature will be a great way for them to collaborate. I am trying a Google Form titled “Student Survey” to get to know the students each quarter. There is always the hurdle of the technology working and for our first day of school our school network student email was having sporadic problems. A back up for that is to have them type up answers in Microsoft Word to questions displayed on the Smart board and on individual handouts that they can refer to when everyone can access their email.

I decided to look at diigo teacher-librarian networking feature and the Diigo in Education group. I use diigo every day for bookmarking, but hadn’t looked at the professional aspects. I joined the “Global TL – Librarians without Borders,” also created by Joyce Valenza in Google. There’s so much to Google that it’s rather mind boggling! I do have the notifications updates for Global TL activated on my toolbar.

For my first venture into the Summer Cool Tools for Schools learning experience, I set up an account with Netvibes and explored that. Netvibes has changed a bit since the tutorial by Tim Sparke from three years ago, but it helps to get a feel for the customizable homepage. Here are some of my additions (pictured below). I love screen casts and video tutorials, and one of my major goals of the summer was to delve into screencasts. It will have to continue into the fall.

This past year I have used Symbaloo, to make it easier to access the school year Cool Tools links. I set up both a regular and EDU Symbaloo account, but had not explored its RSS reader potential. I’ll delve into that more during the school year, as I continue to compare Netvibes and Symbaloo. As a visual learner, I enjoy the tiles in Symbaloo. RSS Feed lists tend to overwhelm me.

After reading Joyce Valenza’s article on dashboard decisions (from 2013), I became fascinated with the idea of using a public myfav.es link for the Computer Apps classes I will be teaching this year at middle grade level. I set one up and linked it to our Library Media Center OPALS site: http://opalssm.dcmoboces.com/bin/home . It’s listed as Keyboarding under the Web Links section (direct link: https://www.myfav.es/mgattolmc). Myfav.es is great for 10 free tiles. A feature I would like to have available is the ability to have a label show up on the tile, as is possible on the Symbaloo tiles.

The single most useful tool that I use every day within Microsoft is the Snipping Tool. I keep it on my bottom tool bar and use it all the time in tutorials, Symbaloo tile creation, and now with the myfav.es creation (as the link buttons had to be created for the URLs I chose). In the past I would do screen saves/print screens, but the Snipping Tool is waymore convenient!

Donalyn Miller's book The Book Whisperer is giving me all sorts of ideas for our School Library Systems' mini- grant opportunity. "Creating a School Community of Readers" is our goal!

Free voluntary reading is the key and the solution to helping students thrive! I'm thankful our school district has started a summer reading program for our elementary school this year and that I'm an integral part of it all! I think free voluntary reading needs to happen more during the school year.

I'm excited to be using the Cool Tools Summer 2015 course work to find creative technological ways to help students find their way to books!

I had wanted to try Symbaloo to help me organize/curate my digital world and I did that! My Library Lunch Bunch students and I were able to start a book blog that we hopefully will be able to sustain in the coming school year, as they all move on to the high school. That wouldn’t have been possible without my jumping the major hurdle of starting a blog for Cool Tools! The one thing I wanted to focus on, but that I did not get to was the podcasting and screen casting. I will have some time this summer to work on that. Pacing is everything, and I’ll be better about that in the future. This has been a great opportunity, and I’d like to continue to pursue some of the coursework, just for the sake of the experience. Thank you for the opportunity! I look forward to continuing the adventure!

I looked through the long list of curation tools created by Joyce Valenza, Brenda Boyer, Della Curtis, and saw Symbaloo. Near the beginning of this course, I had started using it and now use it daily. It reminds me of my favorite curation tool: Pinterest. Both are picture-oriented. Both are easy to collect content. Pinterest is easy to share with others. I also tried a SymbalooEDU account. One question I have is how can you make it public content? It’s great for personal curation, but how do you share it publicly? I’ll be exploring that further. I’ve gotten accounts and have been experimenting with three different curation tools: ScoopIt, Pearltrees, and Pocket. ScoopIt is the one I like best of those three. ScoopIt I had tried previously, but came back to for this course. I found Bill Ferriter’s article, “Teaching Kids to Curate Content [Activity]” very helpful. I hope to use the activity next year. I find myself constantly gravitating back to Pinterest, although I will continue to experiment with these other curation tools. The ease of use with Pinterest is the draw. It’s been beneficial for sharing with some colleagues. One colleague was looking for apps for students with disabilities, and it was helpful to her to have a link to my Pinterest to help her explore the possibilities.

I have combined Options 1 and 2 for this activity, because although I will admit that I joined Twitter in 2010, I would not consider myself a veteran tweeter! I started the account at an educational conference and then forgot about it. At the time I did not explore it educationally in any great detail. I’m not the type to tweet about what I do during my day, so it sat dormant for a while. I like what Jenn Scheffer says about making your Twitter account what you want it to be. My Twitter account is only for educational purposes. I’ve had some very enlightening educational web surfing experiences because of things I’ve found on Twitter previous to this course. I lurk and learn! I’m comfortable re-Tweeting, but am not yet actively tweeting. I’m more inclined to do so now that I’m exploring the possibilities through Cool Tools. I didn’t fully understand hashtags, until focusing on them with this course. It’s all starting to make sense to me. On #tlchatI’ve found book club ideas that I sound great: #2jennsBookClubwith more information for joining at http://linkis.com/www.librarygirl.net/HfXwO! Now I understand the power of hashtags. As I grow more confident, I will participate. On #edchat I found a great example of student inquiry, regarding Boyan Slat's efforts to clean up the ocean, buff.ly/1QdsaUK, that was tweeted by Will Richardson. Very powerful! From a listing of suggested teacher books, in a tweet from Mark Barnes, one I will seek out for summer reading: Unshakable: 20 Ways to Enjoy Teaching Every Day…No Matter What by Angela Watson. Library Girl's tweet for the article "24 Google Docs Templates That Will Make Your Life Easier," is one I want to read later, so it's tucked away in my Diigo account. I’ve found other educators that I will follow, including Aimee Ford. One of her Tweets is one that I would normally pin on Pinterest, and did! Being aware of what I put out there in cyberspace, as an individual and an educator, is important to me. I always think about what I’ve said to my Information Literacy classes: “Would you want your grandmother seeing this as yours out there in cyber world?” In my case, I think of my grandmother and my students! When I use my online communities as examples for my students, I will walk the walk that I talk, and set a good example.